Nadeshiko Kinomoto (木之本 撫子, Kinomoto Nadeshiko) is a fictional character in CLAMP's anime and manga series Cardcaptor Sakura. She is the wife of Fujitaka Kinomoto and the mother of Sakura Kinomoto and Touya Kinomoto. In the series, Nadeshiko appears only in memories and a spirit as she died (at the age of 27) when Sakura was three years old and when Touya was ten years old. Despite her death, she still watches over her family from time to time.

Contents

Appearance

Nadeshiko was a snow-white skinned woman of renowned beauty that allowed her to work as a model from a very young age. She was of average height with long, wavy, silver hair and green eyes. Nadeshiko appears as a spirit wearing a flowing white dress and sporting a pair of white wings. Her cousin Sonomi Daidouji also stated that Nadeshiko looked a lot like her grandmother, wife of Masaki Amamiya.

In certain art pieces by CLAMP, her hair is colored with purple hues. When her hair is purple, combined with her very light skin color, she bears a resemblance to her niece Tomoyo Daidouji.

Personality

Nadeshiko's personality is revealed through the dialogue of other characters as well as flashbacks. She was a kind, caring and cheerful young lady, but extremely clumsy (as she would fall down while simply walking down a sidewalk); even physical education classes and sports were impossible for her.

It is also stated that her cooking could never be considered good, even just to be polite.

Plot

During the humid summers in Tokyo, her grandfather would take her to the countryside of Japan to escape the heat. She clearly came from a wealthy family, as seen by her grandfather's estate and the extravagant dresses she would receive from him.

In high school, Nadeshiko was a student of Fujitaka Kinomoto during his first year as a teacher. She was also a part-time model. She married Fujitaka when she was sixteen, much to the displeasure of her various relatives, especially her cousin Sonomi and grandfather/caretaker Masaki. Fujitaka mentions that he had Nadeshiko for eleven years, from where her death at twenty-seven is concluded. Where Sakura was three, and Touya was seven years old. How this was accomplished when Sonomi clearly stated that the two would come to the high school together while married (Sonomi mentions in a rant that the two would come with their "nauseatingly-matched" packed lunches, husband and wife) is not mentioned.

Although deceased, she is remembered frequently, and her family continues to love and respect her. Fujitaka keeps her memory alive by keeping a picture of her on the kitchen table and changing the picture every day. Sakura makes an effort to greet it every morning. Nadeshiko was and still is greatly admired by Sonomi, who had feelings for Nadeshiko in high school but never had the chance to pursue them further when Nadeshiko married Fujitaka. Sonomi continues to dislike Fujitaka in the present day for that reason, but she will admit that she cannot entirely hate him because his consistent optimism and kindness make it clear to her why Nadeshiko loved him so much. Sonomi also tells Sakura that Nadeshiko was a klutz, and fell out of a tree while tending to some birds, and landed on Fujitaka, who says,"It looks like an angel has fallen out of the sky."

Nadeshiko's ghost is a type of presence in the series. When Touya was younger, he could see Nadeshiko quite often, but as he got older, she showed up less often. Sakura has never been able to see ghosts, therefore she never sees Nadeshiko throughout the entire series, with an exception for "Sakura's Dizzy Fever Day", where she sees her mother's hand on her forehead, and greets her, as she falls back to sleep.

Nadeshiko makes her first visible appearance in Episode 6, "Sakura and Her Memories of Her Mother." Sakura is tricked by The Illusion and walks off a cliff (in the manga, the card tried to drown her in a pond), losing consciousness during the fall. Her drop, however, is slowed by Nadeshiko's translucent hand catching Sakura's wrist (her left hand has a distinctive silver wedding ring), slowing her fall enough so Yukito Tsukishiro can catch Sakura properly. As she was unconscious, Sakura is unaware of this aid.

The Illusion again tries to trick Sakura later, and Sakura initially falls for it believing that the card is Nadeshiko's ghost and needs her help, but later breaks off her psychological control (more specifically, she remembers Yukito telling her that the ghost of a mother wouldn't hurt her still-living children) and captures the card.

At the end of the episode, Sakura presents Nadeshiko's picture with a birthday gift, unaware that Nadeshiko's ghost is hovering over her at the time (adorning a set of angel wings). Nadeshiko comments to Touya, who is watching from a distance, that she had been a little worried and came down to see how Sakura was. After ensuring that Sakura is okay, Nadeshiko leaves.

Nadeshiko makes an additional appearance at the end of Episode 39 when Sakura is recovering from a fever. While Sakura is half-asleep, Nadeshiko appears as a ghost and places her hand atop Sakura's forehead, appearing to lower her temperature closer to normal. Touya is in the room at the time and witnesses this; Sakura says that it feels like her mother was with her, but she does not actually see her while Touya does. It is said that Sakura never sees her mother, but when she had a frightening fever, she opens her eyes, sees her mother's hand on her head and says hello.

In Episode 46, "Sakura and the Final Judgment," upon being trapped in Wood's veins, Sakura loses consciousness and is transported into a world where the Clow Cards no longer exist and with their disappearance, everyone has forgotten their feelings for the person he or she loves most, resulting in the world becoming a much colder, emotional distant place. In this world, Fujitaka does not have Nadeshiko's picture on the dinner table, surprising Sakura greatly. Even eight years after Nadeshiko died, Fujitaka still loves her dearly.

Abilities

Because she has been long deceased during the beginning of the series, mentions of Nadeshiko's early life have been minimal and are still shrouded in mystery. Though, she appears as an angelic-spirit from time to time.

In the Clear Card Arc, Fujitaka remarked on how she was able to speak to talk to things that weren't visible and understand things that couldn't speak, while drawing comparisons with her daughter Sakura's unexplained struggles in life and son Touya's innate supernatural abilities.[2]

During Syaoran's flashback, Syaoran recalls meeting Sakura's parents. He then recalls meeting Nadeshiko, Sakura's mother, who is the Queen of Clow Country. As in Cardcaptor Sakura, Fujitaka is her husband. She has a rather blank personality in her appearance--sweet and kind, but also motherly. She seems to know a lot about Syaoran and is a dream-seer. She, along with "Syaoran" are the only ones who can see the 'Engraved Seal of Death' placed on Sakura.

On Sakura's fourteenth, everyone gathers in the ruins for Sakura's "coming-of-age" ceremony. Syaoran wishes her a happy birthday. However, at that point, the black wings rip out of her body (revealing her to be in the same dress the clone was wearing in the dream world). Nadeshiko stops time and dies as a result. Her last words to Syaoran were that he must protect Sakura.

Nadeshiko does not appear in the post-rewind Clow Country. Yuuko explained that Nadeshiko had known about the seal, and her destiny had changed, thus she had died in the rewind.

Ultimately, her fate is reversed after the defeat of Fei Wong Reed and the restoring of the majority of the world's logic[3].

In Cardcaptors

In Cardcaptors, she has a love for strawberries and will eat anything with it, especially strawberry shortcake. Her being cousins with Sonomi is edited out. Instead they are best friends. Her grandfather is now her father. She also didn't get married at the age of 16 but fell in love with Aiden at that age.

Trivia

In Volume 5 of the Manga and Episode 10 of the anime, it is revealed that Nadeshiko's maiden name was Amamiya; Touya tells that to Yukito as he explains the background of his parents' love story.

Clamp never revealed the cause of Nadeshiko's death. The authors referred to it as an illness, but never really stated which one. It is hinted in the series that her family blamed her getting married at such a young age as the cause of the illness, therefore blaming Fujitaka for her death for seven years.

Nadeshiko's two favorite flowers were cherry blossoms and peach blossoms. Her two children are named after each of them.

When the timeline of Clow Country is revised in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Nadeshiko is brought back to life. In the original timeline, she died after casting a spell to halt time, and in the timeline brought about by "Syaoran's" wish, Nadeshiko dies as she knew about Sakura's death mark. Unwittingly, Nadeshiko's return breaks the rule stated by CLAMP that the dead cannot return to life.